Dreamcast decided to stop reading burned CD-Rs

[brunoafh]

My Dreamcast won't read any burned CD-Rs. I was just playing some of them only 2 days ago, and those same ones won't work now. It will still read any retail game, but for some reason it has stopped reading burned discs. The DC will just boot to the OS screen, hitting Play just brings up the "please insert game disc" message.

Like I said, I have played the very same burned discs I'm trying to get to work dozens of times before, and just 2 days ago at that. I know they're burned properly, and they're not scratched up.

Anyone have this problem before?


edit: I tried playing a CD-R in my other DC and it worked. I'm thinking I might have burnt out the laser a bit by playing a Frame Gride CD-R for many hours (has to access the disc for data constantly). I hear one of the many signs for a dying laser is going to the boot menu and asking for a disc, which is what keeps happening to me. Also, I'm finding some retail GD-Rs sound like they are having a rough time starting up.

[elmagicochrisg]

[Reprise]

Pot tweaking could work, but it should be noted that it's really just a temporary fix, and eventually your laser will most likely die.

Anyways, brunoafh, yes this story has happened to me before. I'm sorry to say it, but guess what happened next? My Dreamcast laser died completely after a couple of months. It seems like yours may be on the way out I'm afraid

It started with my Dreamcast struggling to play CD-Rs, and then it pretty much stopped reading them completely (but retail GD roms worked fine). Eventually when I was playing a game one day, the laser just died during a cut scene and I couldn't get any game to boot after that.

[elmagicochrisg]

[Zerodash]

The Dreamcast might have figured out how to protect itself against piracy- 10+ years too late

It's Thinking...

[corn619]

Its a shame, I had a nice one for sale last week for $40.00 shipped. No one wanted here so I threw it on ebay and sold it.

EDIT: I see you have a spare. Its very important to have a backup Dreamcast. Its a crucial console in my house.